


Dancing In The Minefields

by modernlifehistorian



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-04-08 08:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14101677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modernlifehistorian/pseuds/modernlifehistorian
Summary: In 2001 Lucy Preston was asked to tutor the new kid, Wyatt Logan. In 2016 they're both recruited to chase a terrorist through time. This is what happens in between.





	1. Prologue

2016

 

As Lucy Preston was rushed into some sort of waiting room at Mason Industries, she tried to get some form of a question out, but the Homeland Security agents were having none of it, so she was left with a door slammed in her face in a strange room with, when she turned to actually survey the room, a strange man who appeared to be sleeping. She quietly took a seat in the nearest chair, fidgeting with her hands.

“Are you asleep?” she whispered to the man.

“No ma’am,” he responded tartly. But she lost her breath a little bit at the sound of his voice. She’d heard it before… from one of the few people who ever called her ma’am. In the dim room she could kind of tell what he looked like, but not enough to jump to any conclusions.

“Do you know why we’re here?” she pressed, unable to keep her curiosity to herself.

“No idea, ma’am.” There it was again.  _ Ma’am. _

“You know we’re pretty much the same age you can stop calling me ma’am,” she snapped. He slowly opened his eyes and looked her way. She couldn’t help but gasp. She’d know those eyes anywhere, and by the look on his face he was in as much disbelief as he was. 

“Lucy?” he whispered.

_ Wyatt. _


	2. Chapter 2

2001

 

Lucy fidgeted nervously with the request sheet that had summoned her to the guidance counselors’ offices as she made her way do one of the many hallways of Palo Alto Senior High.  _ What could I have done?  _ She thought.  _ I’m not the kind of person who gets summoned to the counselors office.  _ Was it about her acceptance to Stanford? Had there been a mistake? Every possible worst case scenario played in her head as she approached the office and slowly opened the door. 

“Miss Preston, come on in,” the counselor (goodness what was her name?) called. Lucy closed the door and walked to an open chair next to a guy she didn’t seem to recognize. “Miss Preston, may I introduce you to Wyatt Logan? He’s a new student from Lubbock, Texas.” The guy, Wyatt, gave her a curt nod and simply said with a faint southern drawl “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”  _ Ma’am?  _ No teenage guys called girls their own age ma’am in Stanford, California. She wasn’t so sure how she felt about it. All she could do was offer a polite smile his direction before the counselor continued. “I called you into today, Miss Preston, because it seems Mr. Logan here,” she gave him a pointed look over the top of her half-moon glasses,” needs an American History credit to graduate in the spring otherwise he’ll have to stay another year.” Wyatt slightly turned his head away from her, like he was embarrassed or something.

“Okay,” Lucy said inquisitively. “So what does that have to do with me?”

“Well it seems that Mr. Logan’s schedule is already filled standard senior courses that are necessary for him to graduate, and so when I asked Mr. Mansfield if there were a way to give this young man credit, he pointed me your direction.”

“Mine?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, Miss Preston,” she continued. “As you were his top student and received the highest score on your AP US HIstory exam, we came up with a plan that could get Mr. Logan credit for the course outside of actually taking the class. If you were to tutor him for an hour after school three times a week, and every month he would be tested by Mr. Mansfield to monitor his progress, he could receive the credit. But only if you think you could manage it with the rest of your schedule of course.” Lucy was a little flattered at the request, but she had to take a second to think about how she would respond. She was already going to be swamped with her other classes, running track, preparing for college, and half-parenting her younger sister while their mother worked hours upon hours at the History department at Stanford. Could she really manage to basically teach a class on top of all that? She took a second to glance over at the guy whose future was probably going to change depending on what her answer was. He was sitting there almost completely still, staring directly forward but not at anything in particular. She had been aware of his existence for about 2 minutes, and she already had so many questions about him.  _ How did he end up in Stanford from West Texas? Why didn’t he already have an American History credit? Why did the counselor give him a dirty look earlier? How could he sit so still? What the heck,  _ she thought.  _ What difference could three hours a week make? _

“Um, sure,” she finally answered. “I think I can do that.” 

“Wonderful,” the counselor answered in a tone that bordered apathy. “You’re both free to return to class.” Lucy still felt like there was more information she needed before she could begin with this whole ordeal, but as the counselor already had her nose buried in another file, she guessed she would just have to figure it out as she went. 

She stood up and turned to leave, but as Wyatt had apparently had the same delayed reaction that she had experienced, they ended up nearly running full on into each other. 

“Oh I’m so sorry,” she fumbled, trying not to appear as awkward as she felt, but he just calmly took a step back.

“No worries, ma’am.” There it was again. She finally met his eyes for the first time and the piercing blue irises nearly gave her shivers. Quickly making her way towards the door, somehow Wyatt managed to get in front of her only to pull the door open and hold it.  _ Who was this guy?  _ She smiled shyly and made her way out, wishing she could just hurry back to her class, but also realizing they should probably figure out a thing or two before she bolted. 

“So?” she tried to prompt a conversation.

“So,” he sighed. “How do you want to do this? Meet in the library maybe or…?” She smiled a bit when he seemed to be almost as awkward about all this as she was.

“I have to pick up my little sister from school every day. Our mom tends to work pretty late on weeknights. Would you be okay with doing it at my house? It’s just a couple minutes up the road. I have two dogs and can probably whip up a snack or two.” She got a laugh out of him with that. 

“Well, ma’am, I’ve never been one to turn down free snacks,” he smiled. He had a nice smile.  _ Whoa, Lucy.  _

“Okay,” she smiled in return. “Awesome. So maybe just meet back here after school? I figured we’d just do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but if that doesn’t work for you--”

“Right here after school,” he confirmed. “Sounds good.” He was about to turn and walk the other way, but Lucy jumped in one more time.

“Oh and we’re pretty much the same age, so maybe cool it on the whole ‘ma’am’ thing?” She didn’t mean for it to sound so sharp, but he just nodded and smiled again before walking away with a different kind of gait than she was used to seeing among the guys in California.

_ What had she gotten herself into? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’d been waiting for a Lyatt tutoring fic for the longest time, and came up empty handed, so here’s my sorry attempt at one! I’m still pretty new to writing stuff like this, so thank you for reading and please review with what you like and didn’t like!


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the day came and went as any first day of a school year does. Fairly uneventfully. But because of the addition of Wyatt Logan to her semester plans, Lucy had something new to look forward to. She hurried down the stairs from her AP Government classroom, not wanting to be late to pick up Amy, to the door of the counselors office where she and Wyatt had agreed to meet. However as she stood and waited for him for another 10 minutes, she realized her rush had been for nothing. 

When she finally picked him out of the ever-thinning crowd of students, she rushed up to meet him.

“Hey, can we try and meet pretty quickly after school?” she quipped. “Like I said before I have a little sister to pick up.” He looked like he was about to open his mouth to explain himself, but she just began her way towards the parking lot, expecting him to follow which he eventually did. She felt guilty for coming off so snippy at him, but it seemed with her there were two modes for dealing with people who weren’t her mom or Amy and that was fumbling, awkward klutz, or bossy, snappy know-it-all. She wasn’t exactly proud of it, but it was just her way of dealing with all these teenagers until she could finish here and fly away to Stanford (even though she hadn’t gotten her official acceptance letter yet). 

The main after-school traffic had subsided a bit by the time Lucy and Wyatt made their way to the parking lot. 

“I’m in that silver Pontiac over there,” Lucy gestured toward her car or  _ Abby Adams  _ as she had affectionately coined it the day she got it (not that she would ever voice it allowed). “So if you just want to follow me, I’ve gotta run by the middle school to get Amy, and then we’ll head over to my house.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed and began the walk over to his ride.  _ Of course it was a pickup truck,  _ she laughed inwardly.

By the time she was finally pulling up to the middle school, 11-year-old Amy Preston was waiting for her big sister on the sidewalk with her hands planted firmly on her hips and a mock look of disapproval pointed her direction.

“Alright, kid,” Lucy called from the rolled-down window. “Put that sass away and get in the car.” Her grimace turned into a bright, brace-filled smile as she ran up to the car and threw her backpack in the back seat.

“You’re late,” she smirked. 

“You wanna sit back there?” Lucy quipped back.

“Thank you  _ so  _ much for coming to get me,” Amy feigned gratefulness as she hopped into the passenger seat. Since she wasn’t 12 yet, their mom would never let Amy ride in the front, but Lucy enjoyed that companionship of having her sister up next to her. Plus she didn’t have to feel like a middle schooler’s chauffeur. 

“How was your first day of middle school, kid?” she asked, for a second forgetting that there was an old, black pickup following them.

“Hey, Luce.” Amy, however, was much more observant. “Do you know why there’s a truck following us?”

“Oh,” Lucy laughed. “Yeah I’ve been commissioned to tutor a new kid, so he’s gonna be coming home after school with us a couple times a week.” Amy cast her a skeptical look, and Lucy fidgeted in the driver's seat restlessly. Gosh how did her 11-year-old sister make her feel like a child?

“You know mom doesn’t let boys in the house while she’s not there,” Amy said dutifully.

“Since when do you care what mom thinks?” Lucy shot back.

“I don’t,” Amy laughed. “But  _ you  _ sure do.” 

“Are you gonna tell her?” Lucy sighed.

“Nope,” Amy smirked. “But you’re gonna owe me.” Even at 11, Amy Preston was far too mischievous and rebellious for her own good, but, although she would never admit it, Lucy loved it. She was inspired by the fire in her little sister.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Lucy chuckled, giving Amy a loving shove. “Now tell me about your first day of middle school, punk.”

* * *

 

As he followed the small, silver car down a couple main roads, Wyatt couldn’t help but think over the past few hours. Not only had he first been dragged into the counselors office and basically shamed for not passing history the previous year, but then they brought in this girl, Lucy Preston, and shared his failure with her as well. And of course she had to be a cute one. Long, curly, dark hair with brilliant amber eyes with a slim frame. Very old Hollywood beautiful. And 2002 San Francisco beautiful.  _ Down boy _ , he reprimanded himself. Not the time for that. Yeah he had decided to end things with Jessica before he left for California, even though there hadn’t been that much to end, but he still planned on keeping his head down in this Godforsaken state until he could graduate and enlist.

Thankfully, she hadn’t seemed so horribly judgemental towards him as the rest of the people he had come across so far. In fact she wasn’t much like anyone he had encountered so far. At first she appeared kind of… well air-headed honestly. It took her so long to understand and agree to this whole tutoring situation, and then she had added that sharp comment at the end of their first interaction about him calling her ma’am.  _ Grandpa Sherwin had raised him to be a gentleman,  _ he thought.  _ He couldn’t help it.  _ He had been taken aback by her boldness. Then when he had been running late, again due to some judgemental teacher, she had surprised him again. He felt pretty bad about, but she hadn’t given him a second to defend himself. Yet aside from fumbling and awkward and snappy and bossy, he sensed she had a very pleasant middle ground that he hoped he would get to see eventually.

* * *

 

After they had pulled up to the modest, but definitely not shabby Preston Residence, Amy darted out of the car before Lucy had a chance to ask her to keep her cool, and the 11-year-old was already greeting Wyatt as he stepped out of the pickup. He seemed a tad shocked at first, but then smiled as he began to answer all of Amy’s rambling questions. Lucy found that quite refreshing. Most guys she’d interacted with tended to find little Amy as a pest and try to send her off. But not this Wyatt Logan. They continued their conversation as Lucy corralled them towards the front door and opened it.

The three of them were greeted by two large bundles of fur running circles around their feet and jumping on Wyatt.   
“Winston! Franklin!” Lucy commanded. “Come.” The two goldens stopped their harassing and came and sat at Lucy’s feet. “Good boys,” she cooed, giving them each a scratch behind the ears. “Wyatt, this is Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.” Lucy introduced the two pups, blushing a tad at the nerdy, history names she and her mother had bestowed upon the two dogs.

“Nice to meet you, kind sirs,” he laughed as he walked up beside her, offering both of his hands towards them. The eagerly each thrusted a paw up to shake Wyatt’s hands. “Wow,” he smiled. “Got ‘em well trained.” 

“Those were my mother’s terms for getting puppies,” Lucy explained. “She was okay with having them, but only so long as they didn’t wreck the house. Let me put them outside then we can get started.” He nodded and followed her through the entry hall to where the kitchen opened up to the right, an open dining area directly in front, and a well-furnished living room to the left. A few pictures were hung on the walls and a couple on the side tables mostly with Lucy and Amy at all different ages and a blonde woman who he assumed was their mother, but only a couple of them had a man in them, and they appeared to be from when Lucy was more around Amy’s age. Had their father left? Or died? He figured those would be questions for another time.

“You like chocolate chip cookies?” Lucy asked as she rummaged around through a freezer.. 

“What kind of person  _ doesn’t  _ like chocolate chip cookies?” he chuckled. She pulled her head out of the freezer with premade, frozen cookie dough in her hand. 

“Good cause that’s most of what we have to snack on,” she smiled. She went on to preheat the oven and place smalls pieces of the dough on a baking sheet.

“You’re letting her cook for you?” Amy asked Wyatt as she came back down the stairs. “Do you not want to make it out of here alive?”

“Oh, you hush,” Lucy grumbled. “I know how to put dough on a tray and put it in the oven.”

“Yeah, you say that now, but this one time,” she informed Wyatt. “This one time she tried to make cinnamon rolls,  _ from the can,  _ and somehow managed to burn the outside to a crisp and undercook the inside. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever tasted! Even an extra thing of frosting couldn’t make it better.” Wyatt couldn’t help but crack up at Amy’s criticism of her sister’s cooking and also at the red hot blush that was spreading across Lucy’s face.

“Alright,” Lucy sighed, grabbing her sister by the arm and lightly guiding her back towards the stairs. “That’s enough out of you. Why don’t you go upstairs and work on homework or something.”

“Luce, it’s the first day of sixth grade,” Amy rolled her eyes. “The only homework I have needs mom’s signature.” 

“Then maybe go practice the art of  _ silence, _ ” Lucy whispered.

“Sure so you can get all snuggly with your new  _ boyfriend, _ ” Amy mocked quietly, knowing how uncomfortable that would make her big sister.

“Don’t you start with me,” Lucy growled, but Amy just laughed.

“Bye, Wyatt!” Amy called over her sister’s shoulder.

“Bye, Amy,” Wyatt smiled and threw a kind wave, and with that her pestering little sister finally left them in peace.

“Sorry about that,” Lucy sighed. “She has absolutely no filter.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Wyatt tried to ease her embarrassment. “I have a couple little cousins back home with about just as much sass.” Lucy smiled at his understanding, but it was finally time to get down to why he was actually at her house.

“So,” she began. “American History. Did you actually ever take the course or…?”

“Yeah I took it last year, but…,” he hesitated. “Just didn’t really click I guess.” She wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but she just decided to keep going.

“Well,” she continued. “I guess the best place to start is the beginning.” So she then launched into a small lesson about the beginnings of America. The Natives. The first settlers. How the lived. How they interacted, but she just didn’t feel like he was engaged in her words, so she suggested they take a quick break while she checked on the cookies.

“Uh, yeah,” he agreed. “Where is your restroom?”

“Just down that hall and to the right,” she pointed and then made her way over to the oven to pull the cookies out, thankfully managing to not burn herself on anything like she had a tendency to do. “Not horrible looking,” she muttered to herself, praying they tasted at least somewhat like cookies. She spooned some onto a plate and carried them over to the table where Wyatt had returned. He eagerly reached onto the plate obviously not caring that they were still a bit hot from the oven and took a bite. Lucy held her breath a bit hoping for not the worst.

“Oh wow, Lucy,” Wyatt smiled and Lucy felt hope that she might not have screwed up food for the first time. “These are legitimately horrible.” The darn cowboy had the audacity to laugh along with his comment, but, despite her initial horror ,she found herself laughing along with him. He somehow made her failure feel like less of a failure.

“Told you!” Amy called from upstairs, causing the two teenagers to laugh even harder.

“Homework!” Lucy called back and was rewarded with a sound of scuffling feet and a closing door. It took them a second to return back to their main focus, but Lucy realized it might be best to ask some questions before she continued teaching, hoping that maybe if she got more insight on him, she could find a way to engage him more.

“Wyatt, what is it that you want to do?” Lucy asked.

“It might sound kinda crazy, but I want to become a Delta Force operative.” he answered shyly like he’d been mocked for it in the past.

“Why would that be crazy?”

“Just because it’s such an exclusive division. Very hard to get into. I’ve been told so many times to aim lower, and maybe one day I could climb my way up there, but I have no interest in being part of the regular army. I want to do the crazy things no one else wants or has the guts to do.” He began to speak with such passion about his plans and goals that Lucy felt like she might have a way to get him interested in history. 

“I don’t think that’s crazy,” she smiled. “I think it’s ambitious, brave even. I wish I had the guts to do what  _ I  _ wanted despite what other people said.”

“What is that?” It was his turn to ask a question. Lucy could easily tell him of her mother whom she loved, but who had decided what her future would be, and that she really wanted to be a musician, but she had no guts to tell her mother no which would lead to another rant about her mother and the small jealousy she harbored for her little sister who had no trouble standing up to their mother. But not only would that probably freak him out, it was also not why they were there. 

“Nevermind,” she tried to laugh it off. “I think I have an idea how we can help you find more interest in all this.” He gave her a skeptical look like he knew she was avoiding his question, but he didn’t push it.

“I’m all ears,” he said with what seemed like genuine enthusiasm. 

“So from what I’m understanding, you have interest in war,” she assumed. “So maybe we look at all that we would usually cover in a typical US History class through the lens of war and all its many aspects. Do you think it would stick with you better?” He thought about it for a second and then broke into the biggest smile she’d seen from him this far.

“When you put it like that,” he beamed. “For the first time history doesn’t sound like such a drag to learn.” They just sat there for a moment, grinning at each other.  _ Wow he has really nice eyes,  _ she thought for the second time that day. 

“Uhh,” she fumbled for some kind of words.  _ Come on, Lucy. _ “Okay! So Wednesday we can start with that, and, umm, actually hang on just one second.” She stood from her seat and made a quick run upstairs, grabbing a book, and made her way back to where Wyatt was sitting patiently. “Here.” She handed it to him. “The school typically just issues students their textbooks, but, when you have a mother like mine, she buys you the textbook to ensure you can take notes in it. But I think I can risk letting you borrow it for a while.” Regardless of whether he wanted it or not, he took it with from her hand with a smile and placed it in his bag. “Um I haven’t gotten a chance to say it,” Wyatt began as she politely (and awkwardly) walked him to the door. “But thank you for doing this. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other things to be worried about other than my future, so thank you.” She almost started blushing again at the sciencerity of his voice, but she managed to keep it under control.

“No problem,” she grinned as he opened the door to leave. “See you later?” He turned back for a moment to offer one last dazzling smile.

“See you later,” he confirmed. “Ma’am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Lucy did her usual routine: track practice, take Amy to school, quick breakfast, and barely scrape into the door in time for first period. It’d been the same routine she followed since her father died two years ago, and she very much liked routine.

As brilliant of a student as she was, Lucy could never bring herself to care a whole lot about AP Chemistry, so she sat in the back, took pretty mindless notes, and awaited the bell to ring, so she could get onto classes she cared about more. The morning went by without a hitch, but she couldn’t help noticing that she failed to see Wyatt anywhere. Not that she was hoping to see him or anything, she told herself. Just curious what classes he spent his school days in.

By the came lunch came around she was fully aware that her brain definitely needed a break. From AP chem, she had gone straight to AP Euro History, then to AP government, and finally AP French IV. She was close to a migraine at this point. So she kept her head down as she pushed through the crowd of other students headed toward the cafeteria, hoping to drown out all the noise. That was until she slammed into another person who was being as oblivious as she was. She looked up to be greeted by the blue eyes she’d been thinking about since last night.

“Wyatt!” she exclaimed a little too loudly, not that anyone was paying too much attention.

“Lucy, I’m so sorry,” he laughed. “I guess I was just trying to get out without anyone noticing.”

“Out?” she asked inquisitively. “Where exactly are you going?”

“Eh I made a habit back home of sneaking out of school during lunch,” he admitted. “I guess I thought I could continue the small acts of rebellion here.”

“Anything to avoid the cafeteria?” she assumed.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Big rooms packed with teenagers talking too loudly isn’t exactly where I like to find myself, and sitting alone in the hallway just borders on sad. I’m not sad, just never enjoyed being around people my own age. They’re just so--”

“Immature?” she finished, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Absurdly so!” he guffawed. At this point the two of them were the only students left in this particular hallway, and the realization let an awkward silence fall between them.

“Any chance I could convince you skip the small act of rebellion and come have lunch with me in my English teacher’s classroom?” she asked, again shocked with her forwardness when it came to him. “There’s just a few of us that like to eat in there to avoid all the rabble.” Wyatt was all too tempted to accept her offer, but he was a little skeptical about the “few” she was referring to. He was fine with meeting new people but didn’t know how he was going to fit in with Lucy’s smarter crowd. He knew he wasn’t dumb by any means, but he also wasn’t anywhere near Lucy’s level of smart.

“I don’t know, Lucy, I--” he tried to think of a way to say it that didn’t sound so insecure.

“Oh, come on,” she laughed. “They’re really easy people to get along with. And I say that because they can get along with me.” He took another second to contemplate what he was getting himself into, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn the request down.

“Alright, fine,” he sighed in defeat, but happy that it made her smile. “But if y’all start gettin’ into some deep discussion about Shakespeare or something, I’m not gonna be able to float in that conversation.” She just laughed and began walking in the direction she had been headed, and Wyatt followed. 

“So why haven’t I seen you in the hallways?” she inquired as they walked. 

“Well,  _ ma’am _ ,” he smiled, earning an eye roll from his brunette companion. “From what I’ve learned about you, you find yourself sticking to the AP hallway which is a pretty big leap away from the on-level hallway where I’ve planted my flag.” She couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at his explanation.

“I see,” she nodded, wishing she had a bit more time to ask him other questions, but she had already led them straight to the door of her English class. When he hesitated to follow her in, she leaned in a whispered, “They don’t bite.” Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.  _ Of course they wouldn’t,  _ he thought,  _ if they were Lucy’s friends how bad could they be? Don’t be such a wuss, Logan.  _

His assumptions proved correct. The small group turned out to be a pretty enjoyable group of people. The teacher, Mrs. Nikols, was a warm and very talkative woman who hugged him as soon as Lucy had introduced him. It turns out she had also come from Texas, growing up in Ft Worth and going to college at UNT. Aside from them, there were only two other students in the room. Colin who was a tad outspoken for Wyatt’s liking, but not a bad guy, and LIbby, who’s sweetness and intelligence was only rivaled by Lucy. 

While he had been a little anxious at first about spending lunch with Lucy’s crowd, he ended up being very glad he did. They had fun, light-hearted conversations about not such fun things happening in the world. Wyatt, due to his knowledge foreign affairs stemming from his interest in Delta Force, knew a good thing or two about all that and was able to engage really well. He also got to see Lucy, for the first time, in an environment that she was comfortable with. Her shoulders relaxed, her hands stopped fidgeting like he had noticed they had a tendency to do, she smiled more, and she talked with such  _ confidence _ . He was a bit in shock that this Lucy was the same Lucy who had been unable to sit still in the counselor’s office the day before, but he definitely liked what he saw. She was still awkward and funny, but more because that’s just who she was as opposed to her just being uncomfortable around strangers. He hoped that she would become comfortable enough around him eventually to let loose when it was just the two of them.

Lucy glanced over at Wyatt when their lunch discussion had hit a lull. She couldn’t help but admit that she had been surprised with how much he knew about the current world. He knew exactly what was happening and had valid evidence for what he believed to be right and wrong. It shocked her and… intrigued her? Yeah she’d go with that. She tried to prevent the internal blush she was feeling from spreading to her cheeks, but now she definitely had more questions for him. 

 

* * *

  
  


“So from what I just witnessed in there,” Lucy began as they walked out of the room. “You’re a lot smarter than you like to let on. So what’s the deal?”

“What deal?” he asked innocently.

“You taking the road of least resistance when it comes to school.” 

“Eh,” Wyatt shrugged. “Yeah I mean despite what people have assumed in the past I’m not dumb by any means. I know a lot of things and I like learning, but it’s just all this,” he gestured around. “Isn’t the right environment for me. I like learning hands on, witnessing what I’m learning. I get more from watching the History Channel than I do here. So I just do what I can to get by here because thankfully the military doesn’t pay much mind to my GPA or class rank or AP scores.”

“So, don’t take this the wrong way,” she warned. “But why are you here then? Wouldn’t make more sense to drop out and enlist?” He abruptly stopped walking and closed his eyes, and Lucy immediately started panicking that she had crossed a line. “Forget it!” she tried to recover. “I’m sorry I--”

“No no, Lucy,” he tried to reassure her. “It’s not anything you said it’s just… a conversation for another time.”

“Oh,” Lucy breathed in relief. “Okay. Well I’ll look forward to hearing it.” She was glad it wasn’t really anything she had said wrong to cause him to react this way, but she still was curious as to what had caused it. But she wouldn’t push any conversation onto him. They’d only known each other for about 24 hours for goodness sake.

They were interrupted from anymore words by the loud bell, telling them it was time for their next class. 

“Well, I guess this is where we part ways, ma’am,” Wyatt laughed.

“I guess so,” she agreed.

“See you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Tomorrow,” she confirmed. The hallways had begun to flood with students at this point. He simply smiled and nodded before turning to walk the other way, disappearing into the crowd and leaving Lucy to wish it was Wednesday. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m still pretty new to this Fanfiction writing stuff, so I figured it might be beneficial if I gave some overview as how I see the things that are happening.  
> So the goal of this story is to have a little fun imagining awkward, teenage Lyatt together, but also eventually seeing how it would change everything at Mason Industries if they had know each other before, so I am working under the storyline’s already created by the show writers.  
> This Lucy I lightly based on myself as I was in high school. Not necessarily shy, but just not really interested in engaging with big friend groups, content with having a couple close friends. I spent the last two years of high school doing exactly as Lucy does, eating with my good friends Colin and Libby, and our English teacher, Mrs. Nichols. So that’s that.  
> Wyatt I didn’t want to write as super cocky because while he is naturally confident a lot of that attitude we see in the show most likely came from the time he spent in Delta Force as that is the typical attitude of special forces. So yes he’s confident and stand offish, but he also has his own insecurities.  
> Most of the likes and dislikes and hobbies that I give the characters are either facts from the show or loosely based on it, but I will be taking some creative liberties to add some fun.  
> If any of you are interest in Myers Briggs personalities like I am, I imagine Lucy as an INTP and Wyatt as an ISTP.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

They got through their first successful tutoring on Wednesday. Amy was pesky and nosy as ever, but Lucy and Wyatt still began their journey through American history. Lucy managed to find a way to explain the general culture and history of the Native American tribes of New England through the way they interacted in war, and she was thrilled when Wyatt really seemed to be enjoying it. He watched her intently as she spoke and took good notes. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions, and if her mom had taught her anything, it was that someone who was listening to you would undoubtedly ask questions. When she had wrapped up her speech, Wyatt just sat there for a second before leaning back in the wooden dining chair. 

“That’s..” he paused. “A lot.” Lucy couldn’t help but laugh out loud. 

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Many people don’t understand that they weren’t all just men in head dresses and tattoos, riding horses, and yelling. But really they’re all so fascinating! And unique. Tribes had unique languages, governments, religions, everything. In fact the natives didn’t even  _ have  _ horses until the Europeans came. There wasn’t really an animal native to the Americas that would have been easy to domesticate and mount, so most everything they did was on foot. That’s why when the colonists started showing up, and the natives realized the value of horses, the population of buffalo just diminished basically overnight because the Natives no longer had to chase them on foot--” Wyatt couldn’t help but be in a little bit of awe of the girl sitting in front of him. While a lot of people would’ve seen this as rambling nonsense about stuff that didn’t matter, he could almost feel the passion she was emitting, and that was just about buffalos. She made every detail sound so important. And how did she just naturally remember so much? 

“Wyatt?” She gently shook his arm. “You with me?” He hadn’t realize the daze and couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed.

“Sorry,” he chuckled nervously. “Just got lost in thought.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry. I know I tend to just go on and on about stuff,” she drew her hands into her lap and started to play anxiously with the edge of her shirt.

“No, Lucy it’s not that,” he assured her. “I really do like listening you talk. I think my brain has just soaked up all it will for afternoon.” She looked up from her hands and nodded.

“Oh okay. Well we can definitely pick this up again on Friday.” 

“Sounds good,” he beamed. “Are you not going to the football game though?” 

“I wasn’t planning on it,” she shrugged. “Football definitely isn’t as big here as I bet it was back in Texas. It’s just the spot before basketball to most people”

“I think I could change that for you,” Wyatt predicted. “How about we go after tutoring on Friday? I wouldn’t make you stay the whole time if you didn’t like it, but it could be a good change of pace.” Lucy had no clue what to make of his request. Was he asking or out or just asking as a friend? If she said yes, what was she going to say to her mother? She hadn’t really told her about the arrangement she had with Wyatt, and she was worried how her mother would react. But for now she would just go ahead and say:

“Sure. That actually sounds pretty fun. Because of the pressure my mom puts on me for school, I don’t get to get out much,” she admitted. 

“Well this will be the first step to changing that,” he promised. Lucy knew what her face must look like right now because she felt like a furnace, but she did everything in her power to reign it in.

“For tutoring though, do you think we could meet in the Library?” she inquired. “My mom gets off early on Fridays, and I haven’t  _ quite  _ figured out a way to explain this whole situation to her. I’m technically not allowed to have boys in the house when she’s not here…”

“Lucy Preston, you little rebel,” Wyatt teased. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

“Hope for what?” she said in mocked offense.

“Hope to loosen you up,” he jabbed. “Cause if your shoulders get any tighter, they  _ will  _ attach to your ears. Scientific fact.”

She gave him a teasing glare, but did notice her shoulders felt a little tight now that it was brought to her attention, so she dropped them a little bit.

“There ya go,” he smiled. “But I better be gettin’ home.” He stood from the table, collecting his notes and book and shoving them in his bag. 

The two teens walked to the front door and stood there in an awkward silence as they had the last time.

“See you at lunch tomorrow?” Wyatt asked.

“Lunch.” she confirmed as he opened the door.

“Until then, ma’am.” Was all he said before heading down the path to his pickup. Lucy couldn’t help but roll her eyes again. In reality every time he called her ‘ma’am’ she hated it a little less, but refused to show it.

“You sooooo have a crush on him!” Amy yelled from the balcony (thankfully) right after she closed the door. Lucy darted up the stairs, causing the 11-year-old to squeal and run for sanctuary in her room, but her little legs were no match against Lucy’s track legs. Lucy tackled her onto her bed and began to tickle her sides. 

“You wanna say it again?!” Lucy growled playfully. “Say it again, punk!” Amy was laughing too hard and thrashing around too much to say anything but ‘stop!’ between laughing fits. Feeling like Amy had learned her lesson, Lucy stopped her tickle assault and just sat down on the bed where Amy joined after she calmed down.

“You do though,” Amy stated so matter-of-factly, not backing down when Lucy gave her a feigning death glare. “Don’t shoot the messenger. Especially when I’m just carrying a message  _ from  _ you  _ to  _ you.” Lucy just continued to sit there looking at the purple walls of her sister’s room, not saying anything. “I think it’s great,” she shrugged. “Even if you don’t want to admit it right now. He’s really nice to me. The few guys you’ve ever talked to haven’t been nice to me.” As strong and independent as Amy Preston was, even at 11, she couldn’t hide the little hurt that went in her voice. At that age, all you wanted was to be liked  _ especially  _ by people older than you. Lucy put an arm around her sister’s shoulders and hugged her tight.

“Not admitting to anything you just said,” Lucy preface. “But you know I would never date someone who didn’t treat you right, right?” Amy looked up with her big, amber eyes filling a bit with water. 

“Promise?” she whispered, holding up her pinky.

“Promise.” Lucy confirmed, taking Amy’s little pink in her. The two just sat there for a moment, enjoying the rare moment of just unbridled sisterly affection. Their love usually came more from sassing each other than anything else, so this kind of moment was a gem.

“You know you’re gonna have to tell mom eventually, right?” Amy broke the moment.

“Yeah…” Lucy sighed. “I’m probably overthinking it, but I just don’t want her to get really mad and say I can’t do it anymore.”

“Because you have a crush on him.” Amy added, and Lucy shoved her off the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for precious sister moments! Thank you for all the feedback I’ve been getting so far, and please keep it coming! Be specific or don’t, but every little bit helps me make this a story that y’all enjoy reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Friday after school they met in the library as planned, got through another successful lesson, and were packing to head home when Wyatt asked:

“So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Well from what I’ve seen the game starts at seven,” Lucy answered. “Are there any pre-game festivities that are part of the whole experience?”

“Eh, cheerleaders usually do some cheer stuff, but not much else,” he laughed.

“And are you one of the few guys who  _ wouldn’t  _ enjoy seeing that?” she teased. Wyatt just kind of chuckled uncomfortably.

“Umm, my ex was a cheerleader, so after that..” he shrugged. “Just lost taste for the whole thing.” While it was an odd topic to bring up, he almost laughed at the look at discomfort that rapidly soaked Lucy’s eyes, her pale cheeks flaring red.

“Oh yeah well, um, that makes sense. Sorry to bring it up… I… um…” she just turned away and kept shoving things into her way-overcrowded backpack. 

“Lucy, calm down!” he laughed, placing a comforting hand on her arm. “It’s okay. It was hardly anything super serious, but still enough to quell any interest I had in cheerleaders.” She looked up from her bag and offered a shy smile. “Now all that to say why don’t I come get you around 6:30? That way we can get to the game in plenty of time for kickoff.”

“Um, maybe we should just meet at the field?” Lucy suggested. “I still haven’t told my mom about all this, and it’d be hard for me to get around a guy she doesn’t know coming to pick me up… is that okay?” Wyatt couldn’t help but be curious about this mother he’d heard about so much already but never seen. And how she seemed to have so much control over Lucy’s life.

“Yeah, I get it,” he reassured her. “So meet at the field around 6:45?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Um, do you have a cellphone? It might be good to get your number, you know, uh, just in case I can’t find you tonight.” She didn’t want to sound like she was just trying to get his phone number because she wanted it.  _ So instead go with fumbling idiot, Preston,  _ she thought,  _ great call.  _

“I do, in fact,” he stated, pulling it out of his bag. “Nothing special, but definitely does what it needs to.” While cell phones were becoming more popular and affordable, it was still hard for Lucy to find people her own age with cell phones of their own. Her mother had only bought Lucy’s after her dad died, so she could get in quick contact with her if needed.

After they exchanged numbers, they walked to the parking lot side by side, not speaking more than a few casual words until it was time for them to part ways, but even then it was just them, standing there, facing each other.

“We really have to get better at these partings,” Wyatt quipped, earning a small laugh from Lucy.

“Yeah, but then would we really be us?” It took her a second to realize she referred to them as a single unit, and she was about to start rambling through a retraction when Wyatt just smiled and shook his head.

“No, ma’am, we would not be us.” 

* * *

 

 

As Lucy helped her mom clean up dinner, she realized that she only had half an hour before she and Wyatt had agreed to meet, and she had yet to tell her mom of her evening plans.

“What homework do you have to do this weekend, Lucy?” her mom inquired. 

“Um just some reading,” Lucy responded as she put a couple plates into the cabinet. “No big projects for a few weeks.”

“So what are you planning to get done tonight?” It was asked as a question, but Lucy knew her mother expected her to begin tonight and hardly stop until Sunday night.

“Actually, um, mom,” she began. “I was thinking about going to the football game tonight. Just with a couple friends.”

“Football?” her mother asked. “Lucy, since when do you have any interest in football?”

“Some friends just asked if I wanted to go,” Lucy shrugged. “It’s my last year in high school; I figured I could have a little fun.” Her mom paused the washing of dishes and turned to face Lucy, placing a hand on her hip.

“Lucy, your last year of high school is for finishing strong, guaranteeing your acceptance to Stanford, not for you to abandon all your efforts for something so frivolous.”

“Mom, it’s just a football game,” Lucy argued, slightly irritated by her mom’s one-tracked mindedness.

“And what friends exactly are you going with?” 

“Colin and Libby,” she lied before adding. “And this one guy I started tutoring…”

“You started tutoring someone?” For the first time in their conversation, her mother managed to ask a question without sounding disapproving.

“Yeah, he’s this new kid from Texas,” she explained. “And he needs and American History credit to graduate, so apparently Mr. Mansfield told the counselors I could help with that. We’ve had three lessons so far.”

“Lucy, that’s  _ great _ ,” her mom grinned, going back to washing dishes. “You know volunteering and tutoring is something Stanford looks for beyond grades.” Lucy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Of course she was pleased because it would help her get into Stanford. It wasn’t enough that Lucy was just doing a nice thing. 

“So… yes I can go?” Lucy assumed. 

“You promise you will get all of your reading done?” her mother questioned.

“I promise.” Lucy confirmed.

“Alright,” her mother sighed. “Have fun. Be safe.” Lucy gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek in gratitude before darting out of kitchen and upstairs to get ready. 

“Someone’s got a date,” Amy sang, thankfully not loud enough for their mother to hear. 

“It’s not a date, Amy,” Lucy hissed. “And you better keep that little trap shut, got it?” Amy just giggled and ran back to her room, knowing her big sister’s threat was empty. 

Lucy looked herself over in the mirror. She wasn’t one to wear much make-up and she usually let her hair fall in their natural spring curls or just put it up, and she didn’t plan on doing much more than that for a Friday night football game. However she had to admit that she did want to look nice. She washed her face, redid her mascara, ran a hand through her curls, put on an old Palo Alto Vikings shirt, and decided that would be it. Grabbing her keys and wallet from her bed, she quickly made her way down the stairs.

“Mom, I’m leaving,” she called from the front door and waited for her mom’s typical ‘be safe’ response for running out of the house. 

By the time she pulled up to the football field, many of the spaces had been filled, so she was forced to park a little farther from the field than she would have liked, but that hardly mattered when her phone started ringing and the name  _ Wyatt Logan  _ appeared on the small screen.

“Hello?” she answered.

“You’re running late, ma’am,” he teased. “We said 6:45 and it is clearly 6:46.”

“You know for someone as loose with the rules as you seem to be, you’re very particular about time.” Lucy shot back, stepping out of her car.

“Oh you have no idea, ma’am.” She could practically hear his smirk through the phone.

“About the punctuality or the rule breaking?” she wondered.

“Both,” he laughed. “Now where are you?”

“I just got out of my car. You?”

“Standing in front of the gate. Now hurry up. The game’s about to start.” As they ended their phone conversation, Lucy couldn’t help but pick up her pace just a little bit.

Sure enough there he was. Wearing worn out jeans, a black t-shirt, and his trademark smirk, Lucy tried not to blush when she admitted how nice he made the casual ensemble look.

“Very school spirit,” he commented, pointing towards her Vikings shirt. “I like it.”

“Well I figured I might as well try and look like I belong,” she laughed. “Beats just a black t-shirt though.”

“Hey, I make this work,” he defended, gesturing up and down his body before walking towards the main gate.

“Woah, wait,” she paused. “Don’t we need to get tickets first?” 

“Nah,” he said, pulling two slips of paper out of his back pocket. “Got ‘em right here.”

“Wyatt, you didn’t have to buy mine,” she protested.

“Well, sure I didn’t, but I wanted to,” he insisted. “Come on.” She was going to further protest, but he just reached out for her hand and didn’t let go until they made it to the stands.

As the game went on, Wyatt would tell her exactly what was happening and why. She knew the basic premise behind the game, but Wyatt gave her more insight into what went on in between touchdowns. 

“So the team on offense, their goal is to get the ball ten yards towards their goal in one play,” he explained. “They have four chances, and if they get it that ten yards then it’s a first down, and if not, the ball goes to the other team. Simple enough?” It was, and Lucy caught on pretty quickly. After it was clear to her what the objective was, she would cheer so excitedly anytime the Vikings got a first down. Yes, she was excited about the game, but more so because she  _ knew  _ what was going on. Wyatt just sat there, beaming at her enjoyment.

“So, Mr. Texas,” Lucy chimed as halftime began. “I can only assume that you played football back in the Lone Star State. Isn’t that what all  _ y’all  _ do?” Wyatt couldn’t suppress a playful eye roll that came from her friendly teasing of his roots.

“Oh, yeah, along with wearing a cowboy hat everywhere and riding my horse to school,” he jested, earning a giggle from Lucy.

“Really?” She kinda hoped it was true.

“ _ No, _ ” he drawled, giving her a nudge with his shoulder. “I didn’t ride horses everywhere nor did I wear cowboy hat. Didn’t even play football. Just watched most every version of it possible. High school, pee wee, college, professional, basically football in Texas is what most people have a TV for and why the go to each others houses.”

“You sound a little bitter about that,” Lucy noticed.

“Don’t get me wrong. I do love football, but it was mostly my dad who made us watch it, and he was…” Lucy waited patiently for him to continue, but he just cleared his throat and said, “Well even when it came to baseball season, he would have football on first and foremost no matter how much little 10-year-old me  _ begged  _ him to let me watch the Rangers.”

“Wait, you’re a baseball fan?” Lucy quiered. 

“Oh hell, yeah,” he answered. “Learned to love it from my grandpa.”

“I  _ love  _ baseball!” Lucy related, excitedly. “There’s just so much history to it, and it’s such a big part of the American culture.” When she realized how much she was geeking out over the history part of baseball, she added, “Plus it is just fun to watch.” She didn’t want to come off like a total nerd.

“You’ve surprised me yet again, Miss Preston,” he professed. 

“Although…” she chided. “The  _ Rangers _ ?” 

“Um, AL West champs ‘96, ‘98, and ‘99,” he informed her. “Show some respect.”

“Yeah and not much else other than those three titles,” she jabbed.

“Alright, Miss History, who do you hold your flag for?” 

“The Giants,” she stated. 

“The  _ Giants? _ ” He chastised. “Who in the past 5 years only have two NL West titles to the Rangers three?”

“Yeah and eight World Series wins overall to the Rangers’  _ zero _ .” She held up a zero with her hand to emphasize the point.

“Oh, right where it hurts,” he gasped, grabbing his side in mock pain. “Don’t worry, Miss Preston. Me and my boys, we’ll get there.”

“We’ll see about that,” she teased. “But you never told me what you did in high school if it wasn’t football.”

“I was actually a swimmer,” he admitted. “One of the best in the state my sophomore year. Then I kinda just fell off.”

“What happened?” Lucy wondered.

“Eh, it’s just a big sob story I don’t really want to bore you with right now.” Lucy saw right through his avoidance though. His not wanting to tell it had nothing to do with her getting bored with him, but she didn’t want to push him to talk about things he was uncomfortable with. They’d only known each other five days. They both had hard parts of their past they had yet to share, and they would only come out with time.

The Vikings managed to come through in the end with a 51 to 42 victory, but Wyatt and Lucy snuck out of the stadium a couple minutes before the fourth quarter had come to an end, hoping to avoid the flood of people that would make a mass exodus out of the stadium after the fight song was played.

Wyatt insisted on walking her the distance back to her car even though his was much closer to the front. “It’s what I earned by being on time,” he had smirked. 

“Thanks for asking me to come,” she smiled as they stood beside Abby Adams. “It was surprisingly fun.”

“I’m glad you didn’t have as terrible of a time as you anticipated,” he jabbed, and when she was about to correct him, he just placed gentle hands on her upper arms. “Joke.” he stated. “So if I run across a history question while I’m diligently studying this weekend, do I have permission to call you?” he inquired. Lucy was a little too shocked to respond in an appropriate amount of time, but when she did find her voice again all she could manage was “Oh yeah, mhmm, sure, that’d be fine.” Although the way it came out sounded basically like one word.

“Awesome,” he beamed, pulling her door open for her. “Until then, ma’am.” She waved to him as he began to walk away before retreating into her car and slamming her head against the steering wheel.  _ Nice job, Preston _ ,  _ you came off like a completely giggle girl _ . After a minute of reprimanding herself, she straightened up and began the drive home. Could she blame herself though? Wyatt Logan was definitely something special, and his stunning, James Dean type of cowboy bad boy appearance did  _ not  _ help her stop thinking about him.

Oh, boy, was she screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot count the number of times I’ve been asked if I ride horses everywhere, so I felt obligated to throw that in here. I decided that both of them were going to love baseball even though it’s really never been mentioned because I’m a huge baseball fan and it’s always fun to have playful rivalries. I hope y’all enjoyed some cute one-on-one time with our favorite time couple! I have big plans coming, so please keep reading and reviewing! It’s y’all that keep me motivated to keep writing


	7. Chapter 7

A month of school passed in the blink of an eye for Lucy. Mostly thanks to one Wyatt Logan. He gave her something new to look forward to for the first time in a long time. They went through each week with their lessons, and eating lunch together, and he would call her on Saturday nights, and they would talk into the late hours about anything and everything that came to mind before often falling asleep while still on the phone. Amy was still teasing her relentlessly about her crush, and it was getting harder and harder for Lucy to correct her. He sent her stomach fluttering every time he smiled at her or really even looked at her, but she knew there was no point in trying to start something when they were going to be parting ways so soon. She had a bigger task at hand, and they were really making good progress in their studies. But on Monday while she was waiting for him outside the counselors’ office as was their norm, that she got a text message, saying he had to cancel today and he was so sorry but that he would see her tomorrow for lunch.

But Tuesday went by without Lucy seeing him, and without a word from him. She wanted to call and check on him but stopped herself, not wanting to become overbearing.

But when Wednesday passed with him not there, she was beginning to find his contact as her phone started buzzing in her hand.

_ Wyatt Logan _

She had never answered a call faster.

“Wyatt?” she asked.

“ _ Hey, Luce _ .” She noticed right away that he didn’t sound quite right. “ _ I’m really sorry I haven’t been there the past two days. I had to make a quick trip back home to Texas, but I’m back now and would love to catch up on what I missed _ .” She was so relieved to just be hearing from him that it took her a second to respond.

“Oh, yes, of course!” she fumbled for words. “Um, meet me at my house in about 15 minutes? I still have to pick Amy up from school.”

“Sounds perfect, ma’am,” He responded before hanging up the phone. Unfortunately that phone call did little to ease her concern. She couldn’t think of much else as she drove Amy home other than how thin his voice sounded when he first greeted her. By the time the two girls pulled into the parking lot, Wyatt’s truck was parked along the street, and the man himself was standing next to the front door, looking as tightly wound and fidgety as she was on a daily basis. But when Amy bounded up to him, it was as if a flip switched. A smile spread across his face as the 11-year-old wrapped him in a hug. Of all the things Wyatt did that made her breath catch, the way he treated her baby sister had to be one of her favorites. It was so easy to see Amy as just a pesky middle schooler who intruded upon their lessons, but he took his time to talk to her, ask her about school, and mess with her as good as any older brother would do. 

But when he lifted his gaze to meet hers, she was reminded of what had been worrying her so much. His eyes were glassy and he had bags stretched out beneath them. She wondered if he was going to tell her what had happened, or if he was going to continue avoiding telling her much about his past. 

“Hey,” she smiled softly, giving him a side hug.

“Hey, yourself,” he whispered, wrapping a firm arm around her shoulders and giving a gentle squeeze before releasing both of the Preston girls. 

As usual they were swarmed by the two goldens when they stepped into the house, but Amy, probably sensing something was a little off, just darted right up the stairs, leaving Lucy and Wyatt with a kitchen filled to the brim with silence. Usually their awkward silences came with smiles and uncomfortable laughing, but this was just… awkward. They both knew there were things that needed to be shared, but Wyatt was taking his sweet time opening up. So Lucy went to work letting the dogs out for a bit, pulling out some store bought snacks (after the cookie fiasco she didn’t bother trying to cook again), getting out her notes, and letting the dogs back in. She took a seat at the dining table, but Wyatt was still standing in the middle of the kitchen area, staring at absolutely nothing. 

“Wyatt?” Lucy urged. “What’s going on?” He slowly turned his face in her direction but didn’t move his feet. “ _ Wyatt,”  _ she said a little more forcefully. “You’re starting to scare me. What’s going on?” He drug his feet over to the table and sat down beside her.

“There are some things I need to tell you about,” he whispered. “At this point you have a right to know a little more about me.” Lucy was shocked by the tears that seemed to be building behind his eyes. She reached for his hand in a show of encouragement. 

“When I was eight, my mom passed away in a drunk driving accident,” he began, his words thick with pain. “Ironically it drove my dad to drink. A lot. And it was the first anniversary of her death that he hit me for the first time.” Lucy gave his hand a squeeze. “I did what I could to fight back, but it was a few months later that I told my aunt and uncle what was happening, so he got thrown in jail. I had some options of where I wanted to go from there. I could go with my aunt and uncle, but they were about to move out here, and with my world already turned upside down, the last thing little 10-year-old me needed was to be taken away from any semblance of home, so I was put into the custody of my Grandma Bess and Grandpa Sherwin.” He reached into his pocket and pulled a picture from his wallet. “That’s them there.” He pointed to an older couple with what looked like a middle school aged Wyatt tucked between them on a porch swing. “And me,” he chuckled. 

“Those were some golden years we had together,” he explained to Lucy with a smile. “Grandma taught me how to cook, milk a cow, and even some basic sewing stuff. Grandpa taught me to shoot, ride a horse, and how to be a gentleman. Everything I know I learned from those two. Grandpa Sherwin is who inspired me to want to serve. He was only 19 when he fought Nazis in World War II. And then...” He looked down into his lap and his voice caught a bit. “Then last year he got diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors said they would do what they could, but it didn’t look good. He managed fine for a bit, but it started to get real bad, real fast, and that’s when I started lashing out,” he admitted. “Stopped going to school, stopped going to swim practice, started bootlegging, started getting into fights. And then when I got arrested late this past spring, Grandma Bess had had enough. She said she was too old to be taking care of Grandpa and of me, so she sent me here to live with my aunt and uncle, but on Monday I got a call after lunch from Grandma saying he had had a seizure. She wasn’t sure if he was going to make and wanted me to be there if he…” His words were shaking along with his body now. She had never seen his so vulnerable. “Thankfully last night he woke up,” he sighed, sitting up in the chair a bit. “But the doctors said the cancer was starting to spread into his spinal cord, and they didn’t know how much time he had left.”

“I’m so sorry, Wyatt,” Lucy murmurmed, rubbing circles with her thumb on the back of his rough hand. 

“You asked me a while back what I was doing here,” he reminded her. “Why I hadn’t dropped out of school to enlist. He’s why,” Wyatt answered, pointing to the picture of Grandpa Sherwin. “When I first told him I wanted to join the Army a couple years back like he did, we were out swingin’ on that old porch swing after dinner, smoking,” And when she gave him a quizzical look, he simply shrugged.  “Something we always did together, and he just sat there, looking over at the cotton like he always did, and said ‘Boy,” Wyatt gruffed like he were imitating Grandpa Sherwin. “‘You just promise me that you finish up with that schoolin’ of yours, unlike your ole’ Grandpa Sherwin. As much as you wanna serve, you’ll never be able to get this kinda education ‘gain.’ and then he went right on back to smokin’. So as many times as I thought about just givin’ up on the whole school thing, I just… remember that he’s the reason why I’m doing this.” Tears were streaming slowly down his scruffy cheeks. “To make him proud.” Lucy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He leaned his head against her shoulder until the tears subsided and his breathing evened, but neither made a move to separate. Her arms weren’t constricting, but still strong around his back, and she smelled beautiful. He couldn’t tell what the smell was, but he didn’t think he wanted to stop smelling it. Ever. And normally the feeling of someone breathing onto her neck and tears soaking her shirt would make Lucy want to squirm away, but she could have remained there for hours just enjoying the presence of  _ him.  _

“Sorry,” Wyatt whispered, finally pulling out of her embrace. “I got tears and snot on your shirt.” He cringed and attempted to wipe some of it away.

“Don’t worry about it,” she laughed, swatting his hand away. “Hey,” she urged him to look at her. “Thank you. Thank you for sharing all of that with me.”

“I wanted you to know me better,” he admitted. “Plus I felt like I owed you after disappearing for two days.”

“Yeah, you try and pull that again, and I won’t be so understanding,” she teased. 

“So I shared my whole sad life story with you,” he chuckled. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Lucy was a bit taken aback, but she felt that after all he had shared, that was the least she could do.

“Sure,” she answered nervously, wringing her hands. “Ask away.”

“What happened to your dad?” he inquired. “I’ve seen pictures of what I assume are him, but you’ve never mentioned anything about a dad.” Lucy had to take a second to think over his question. She knew the answer, obviously, but she had more blocked out the memory of her father’s passing rather than process it.

“Um,” she mumbled, continuing to wring her fingers like washcloths until Wyatt covered his hand over hers, offering the same support she had given him. “It was the summer before my freshman year, and he was out of the country, on a dig in central America. He was an archaeologist,” she explained. “And on the last day they were supposed to be there, he… uh… he had a brain aneurysm. Right there in there excavation site, but they were so far from any help that… um… he passed away before any help had a chance to arrive.” The tears were poking at the back of her eyes. “Gosh, I’m sorry,” she apologized swiping at her eyes. “I thought I was past it but…” Her words fell away as she thought of why she never had a chance to process it. 

“But?” Wyatt encouraged, squeezing her hand.

“Amy was only 7.” The words were barely loud enough to escape her lips. “Mom had just lost her husband. I had to… I had to put on the brave face, I guess. Dad had been the light of our little family. Always cracking these horrible jokes, giving us piggy back rides, cooking dinner, getting us ready for bed, and making our lunches since his job wasn’t as much of a daily grind as mom’s was. He and mom were so well balanced that when he was taken away, there was an unfillable void that I had to try to fill. Mom couldn’t stop working, so I started trying to cook dinner for me and Amy, always made sure she got her homework done and got to bed, and made our lunches. For a year Amy crawled into bed with me every night and I had to wipe all her tears away because Mom was always too exhausted to be woke up. So I guess that I just never got to come to terms with anything.” It was now Lucy’s turn for the tears to fall, and Wyatt to gather her in his arms. She didn’t know if these were just long overdue tears or the comfort Wyatt brought, but by the time the tears stopped their flow, she felt so at peace.

“Thank you,” she murmured, looking deep into his blue eyes. 

“For making you cry?” He laughed, wiping the few tears that remained off her cheeks.

“For making me talk about it,” she corrected. “I never realized how heavy that had been weighing on me for so long.”

“Anytime,” he flashed his brilliant smile. 

“But if we’re gonna catch up on what you missed from our lessons on Monday, we better get started,” Lucy insisted.

* * *

 

Time must have gotten away from them because by the time that they finally finished both Monday and Wednesday’s lesson it was past 6:00.

“Wow, I definitely need to be getting home,” Wyatt said when he noticed the clock on the wall. “I’m surprised my aunt hasn’t called yet, worried out of her mind.” They both hurried to get all of his stuff packed and were heading towards the door when they heard a jingle of keys from outside the front door. Lucy felt her stomach drop. The door opened.

“Lucy, do you know why there’s a black pick--” Her mother paused at the sight of a strange boy standing in the entry way with her daughter. 

“Oh… Hello.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh.


	8. Chapter 8

“Mom!” Lucy gasped. “This is.. Um…”

“Wyatt Logan, ma’am,” he introduced himself, sticking out a hand for her to shake. “Lucy’s been tutoring me in US History.”

“Ah, yes,” her mother nodded, giving Wyatt a half-hearted hand shake. “Carol Preston.” The three of them stood there in the entry way for an uncomfortable minute before Wyatt knew it might be time to take his exit. 

“It was nice to meet you, ma’am,” he addressed Carol. “But I should be getting home.” He cast an apologetic glance in Lucy’s direction before exiting the house.

“Mom, I…” Lucy tried to come up with an excuse, but her mind came up empty. 

“Lucy, I don’t appreciate being lied to,” her mother scolded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just… I knew I couldn’t skip out on picking up Amy, and I couldn’t leave her home by herself, but I also didn’t want to leave Wyatt to fail, so I just… I just figured this was the best option,” Lucy mumbled, looking at the floor. Carol Preston knew her daughter. Knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t have bad intentions with bringing a boy over to the house. If she were being honest with herself, she had put that rule in place, so when Amy was old enough to date, the precedent had already been set.

“Lucy…” Carol sighed. “I trust you.” Lucy looked up, a little shocked. 

“Really?” Lucy checked.

“Mhmm,” her mother nodded. “Just… stay downstairs and maybe keep Amy down here with you?”  _ Oh yeah, deep trust, Mom,  _ Lucy thought.  _ But better than being told Wyatt couldn’t come back. _

“Thank you!” Lucy smiled, giving her mom a hug.

“If it helps at all,” Amy, who had been spying on the whole conversation, called from the balcony. “I really like him!” Nothing could keep the laughter from spreading through the Preston house.

* * *

 

“ _ So we’re all good _ ?” Wyatt asked over the phone later that night. 

“Seems like it,” Lucy responded as she lay on top of her comforter. “She said she trusts me but wants us to keep Amy down stairs during our lessons.” His laughter rang through the speaker.

“ _ Yeah just in case I decide to take advantage of you on the couch. _ ” Lucy at that moment was so grateful that he was not sitting next to her to see the blush that completely over took her face. He must have realized what he had just said as well because he quickly followed it up with a clearing of his throat and continued talking. “ _ Anyway _ …” he chuckled awkwardly. 

“Hey!” Amy whispered excitedly, peaking around her door. “You should ask him to go to the TreasureFest with us!”

“ _ Who was that _ ?” Wyatt asked.

“Just Amy,” Lucy answered. “What?” she quired to Amy.

“TreasureFest!” Amy squealed. “We always go, so Wyatt should come with us!”

“ _ What’s TreasureFest _ ?” Wyatt inquired, and Lucy was beginning to have trouble keeping these conversations straight. Before she had a second to react, Amy was running into her room and swiping the phone from her big sister.

“Amy, you little rat!” Lucy hissed, barely getting off the bed by the time her little sister had darted out of the room.

“Wyatt, will you come to Treasure Fest with us?” Amy asked excitedly. “It’s this big thing in San Francisco and there’s music and food and games, and--” Lucy grabbed the phone away from her little sister before she could harass Wyatt anymore.

“I am so sorry,” Lucy apologized, pushing her little sister onto her bed. “Apparently Amy thought this was  _ her  _ phone, but…” Lucy wasn’t sure if she should ask. “Would you want to come?” 

“It sounds fantastic.” She could hear his smile through the phone which made a smile creep across her face.

“Um… okay!” Lucy responded. “It’s not for another two weeks, but we can talk more about it tomorrow because right now I have an 11-year-old to take care of.”

“Perfect,” he laughed. “I’ll see you then. Have a good night.”

“You too,” she wished before hanging up the phone.

“Okay, now that’s, like, really a date,” Amy said matter-of-factly. 

“Not a date, Amy,” Lucy retorted. “Especially if you’re going.” 

“Not a date for you,” she corrected. “A date for me. I mean I was the one who asked him to go.” The two sisters looked at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter.

“Yeah, okay, kid,” Lucy quipped. “I’ll just chaperone.” 

“If you’re jealous do something about it,” Amy jabbed. But Lucy just rolled her eyes and walked to her sister’s door. 

“Goodnight, kid,” she said before flipping the lights off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know Carol’s reaction to Wyatt was a little mellow, but I really believe that in the reality Lucy left behind before the Hindenburg, her mother was just her mother. Yeah a little overbearing, but still her mother. She either left Rittenhouse when she met Henry Wallace or somehow was never a part of it, so that’s how I’m choosing to write her for everything prior to the Hindenburg. And let’s be real how much trouble is awkward teenage Lucy going to get herself into? Anyway thank you for reading and please review!


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy was somewhat grateful that her mother had come home early that night, so she the twinge of guilt she felt every time Wyatt was at their house went away. Now they just enjoyed their time together even with Amy sitting on the couch the whole time, watching whatever show she was interested in that week. 

The weekend of TreasureFest snuck up on them rather quickly, and neither of the high schoolers could think of a better way to celebrate the semester being half over. 

“I brought the best road trip music,” Lucy informed Wyatt, holding up a couple CDs in her slim hands. 

“Oh no,” Amy groaned. “I know what those are.”

“What are they?” Wyatt inquired. 

“John Denver CDs,” the middle schooler mumbled. “She brings them  _ everywhere. _ ”

“Excuse you,” Lucy snarked. “John Denver is amazing.” 

“John Denver?” Wyatt questioned. 

“No, Wyatt,” Lucy stated in disbelief. “John Denver? Take Me Home, Country Road? Rocky Mountain High? The  _ greatest  _ folk rock singer ever?” Wyatt just shrugged in innocence. “Well now we have no choice but to listen.” Lucy said as she walked around the bed of the pickup.

Amy had tried to sneak into the shotgun seat of Wyatt’s pick up, but Lucy was having none of the child’s mischief today.

Back seat for you,” Lucy smirked. Amy just stuck her tongue out to and Lucy responded with the same.

“Alright, children,” Wyatt called from the front seat. “Y’all are killin’ daylight out there!” The two girls hopped into the car and began the 40 minute drive to San Francisco. Lucy popped in the first of the two CDs and let the music fill the silence of the silent cab. Amy gave a large eye roll from the backseat, but Wyatt had to admit that the music wasn’t half bad. What really caught his attention, however, was Lucy softly singing along beside him. Had he ever heard her sing? He figured he would’ve remembered if he had because it was phenomenal. Even at the low volume she was singing, he was stunned with her musical talent. Why didn’t she sing more? He would ask later, but for now he would just enjoy the morning with the California morning sun coming in through the window and Lucy singing about being taken home down country roads. He wouldn’t interrupt that beauty.

* * *

 

By the time they pulled into the parking lot the festival was flooded with people.

“Goodness gracious,” he muttered when a pack of people walked right in front of the car without so much a glance in their direction. “Dang Californians.”

“What was that?” Lucy asked with a quirked eyebrow. 

“Just a lovely group of people here,” he laughed. “Good people.” 

“Uh huh,” she scoffed. “Just find us a parking spot, cowboy.” He couldn’t suppress the smile Lucy brought to his face when they had these playful rivalries. Usually about the superiority of California or Texas or their respective sports teams. She knew an impressive amount of baseball history and sometimes he failed to find an argument against her stack of evidence, and it might bother him in any other case, but he loved the way she beamed with pride when she bested him. 

“Wyatt, right there!” Amy called from the backseat, making him jump a bit. “A parking spot!” Sure enough a car was pulling out at the exact right moment for Wyatt to steal the spot.

“Amy,” Lucy reprimanded. “You know you’re not supposed to yell in the car.” Too many times she had nearly crashed because Amy got a little too excited about something she saw from her window. 

“Sorry,” she murmured, shrinking back into her seat. 

“Hey, no worries,” Wyatt reassured Amy. “Besides we got the spot, and it’s time for the fun to start!” That brought a smile back to the 11-year-old’s face, and she excitedly unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped from the pickup.  

“You’re too nice to her,” Lucy laughed. 

“Well someone has to be,” he pointed out with smirk. Lucy playfully rolled her eyes before following her sister out of the car. Amy was basically hopping in place from her excitement. Treasurefest had been a family tradition for years, and even though their mother couldn’t come this year because of a work conference, it definitely didn’t diminish her enthusiasm.

“Come  _ on _ , slowpokes!” she groaned. “The longer we wait, the longer the lines get!” Lucy and Wyatt shared an amused look before following Amy down to the beach.

 

The large part of their day went off without a hitch. Wyatt had won Amy a stuffed tiger from one of the games that was supposed to be impossible to win, but Wyatt’s aim proved extremely accurate. And when he offered to go again to win Lucy a dragon, she just gave him a look of mock skepticism and asked: “What would I do with a stuffed dragon?”

“Put it next to your bed to keep all the knights in shining armor at bay.” he offered with a cheesy grin, but she just laughed and suggested they get lunch. She thoroughly enjoyed watching Wyatt’s reaction at the thought of eating crab for the first time when she offered a bit of her’s. 

“Seafood is not something we made a habit of eatin’ in West Texas,” he grimaced as he poked at the crustacean that looked like they had plucked it fresh off the sand.

“Come on, Wyatt, don’t be a  _ baby _ ,” Amy mocked around a mouth full of crab meat.

“Yeah, Wyatt,” Lucy agreed with a chuckle. He took a deep breath and bit off a small chunk. 

“Not the worst thing I’ve tasted,” he admitted after swallowing. “But I think I’ll stick with my burger. Cow is a much safer meat.” Lucy threw her head back in laughter at his considerate but failed attempt to like something she loved. And he suddenly no longer regretted his decision to try it.

They took the rest of the afternoon just enjoying all the festival had to offer. The looked at handful of displays and shops and watched one of the featured bands for a bit, but as 3:00 came around, it was clear that Amy was starting to get sluggish. Lucy was feeling a little tired herself, so the group decided to call it day.  _ A very good day,  _ Lucy thought.

“Y’all go ahead and sit,” Wyatt suggested as they passed an empty bench. “I’ll bring the car up here so you don’t have to walk so far.”

“Wyatt, you don’t have--”

“Lucy, when will you realize that I don’t do things because I  _ have  _ to, but because I  _ want  _ to?” He asked with the most heartwarming smile. She just shook her head at a loss for words before he took a step forward and took his hand in hers. “I’ll be right back.” And he was off towards the parking lot. She stood there watching him for a second before taking a seat next to Amy on the bench she had claimed. 

“My goodness, Lucy,” Amy sighed. “Just ask him out or  _ something _ ‘cause this is starting to get ridiculous.” For once, Lucy didn’t want to outright deny her sister’s jabs about her “crush” because it was becoming clear to her that maybe Amy’s assumptions weren’t middle school nonsense. Her hand still tingled a bit from where he had held it seconds before, and she had to admit that while Monday’s used to suck, they had become one of her favorites days because she got to see Wyatt for the first time after the long weekends apart. Gosh, was this really happening? Was she considering starting something so risky? Yeah, she really was. He had proved over and over again that this was worth a chance. 

“Excuse me?” An unfamiliar voice shook Lucy out of her daze. She looked up to see a guy she kind of recognized looking her direction. “Do you go to Palo Alto High? Lucy, right?” Lucy didn’t know how to respond. She could now remember seeing his face occasionally in the hallways, but that didn’t mean she had a lot of interest in talking to him there or here. 

“Um, yeah, that’s me,” Lucy mumbled, trying to give off an appearance of disinterest without being to blunt. She wasn’t an overly confrontational person.

“Brayden,” he introduced himself. “We had English together freshman year.” When she realized it might not be as simple as giving uninterested signals to get him to go away, Lucy stood up to put some distance between this guy and Amy. 

“Oh, yeah,” she smiled half-heartedly. 

“So what are your plans for college?” he inquired.

“Um… hopefully Stanford,” she shrugged.

“Wow!” he replied. “Reaching big.” 

“Mhmm,” she agreed with a tongue in her cheek. “You?” She cursed her inward tendency to be polite. 

“Eh, just going to a community college for a couple years,” he answered. “Saving some money and getting basics out of the way.”

“Neat,” she said in a way that suggested otherwise. “Well I better get--”

“Hey, I don’t mean to be forward,” he interrupted. “But, you know, I’ve seen you around school for so long, and I was wondering if you might want to go out sometime?” The way he asked was a little too bold to be a question. 

“Uh, that’s really flattering,” Lucy answered. “But it’s just not a great time for me right now. With college around the corner and all that.”

“I mean, doesn’t have to be anything serious. Maybe just have some fun…” The look in his eyes made Lucy want to cringe. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized what he was implying. Who did this guy think he was?

“Like I said,” Lucy stated a bit louder, trying to keep things under control. “It’s just a bad time for me to get something started.”

“Oh, come on--”

“I think you heard the lady.” Before Lucy had a chance to blink Wyatt was standing in front of her, his shoulders tense. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’re about to be leaving.”

“I don’t think you get to speak for her,” the guy shot back taking a step closer to Wyatt, but Wyatt stood easily two inches over him. 

“I don’t think I need to,” Wyatt snapped. “She made herself clear.”

“Listen--”

“Is there some trouble going on here?” A festival security guard stepped in between the two. 

“No, officer,” Wyatt lied through gritted teeth. “We were just leaving.” The guard made no attempt to move or stop Wyatt as he walked back towards Lucy and Amy. “Y’all ready to go?” Lucy took a second to observe Wyatt. She had never seen him like this. His shoulders were tight and his teeth were clenched, making his jawline more prominent. He looked angry, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t a little pissed either. 

“Come on, Amy,” she murmured, corralling her little sister towards the pick up that had been left running in the middle of the lane. Amy jumped into the backseat, and Lucy turned to face Wyatt.

“Um, what the hell was that?” Lucy snapped, meeting his fiery gaze. 

“Me trying to help,” Wyatt barked back. “You’re welcome.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve been hit on before Wyatt!” Lucy hissed. “I know how to handle myself. I don’t need you in your shining armor to come save me. What’s gotten into you?” After a second, she saw him relax a bit, a visible look of guilt and embarrassment across his face.

“Lucy, I’m--”

“Just save it for the drive back,” she stopped him. “I want to get Amy home.” She walked around to her side and stepped in. Looking behind her, she noticed Amy was already dozing off across the back seat, but she was still buckled, so Lucy didn’t bother to wake her.

The first few minutes of the drive passed in silence. Lucy didn’t put in a CD, and Wyatt was still too ashamed to say much. But eventually Lucy had enough of the silence.

“What was that, Wyatt?” she asked more gently this time, trying not to wake Amy. “I’ve never seen you like that before, and I can’t say I liked it.”

“I…” he started to say, but faded off quickly, taking a couple deep breaths. “Ever since my dad… um… and all that I just… I started suffering from these really bad anger issues,” he confessed. “So bad that when I was in 7th grade I knocked this kid’s teeth out and broke his nose for making some crude joke that I guess I took too personally. After that Grandma Bess sent me to a therapist back home. And it helped, I didn’t have any more incidents like that, and eventually even the rage I felt so often started to fade, but when Grandpa Sherwin got sick…” he trailed off for a moment. “It flared up along with all of those other things I talked about, but this time I’ve been trying to handle it myself rather than trying to find a way to get more help. I just didn’t want that to be another burden on my aunt and uncle.” Her heart ached a bit at the raw honesty in his voice. “But that’s no excuse for what happened. I really am sorry, Lucy.”

“Wyatt, it was just such a minor thing,” she insisted. “I don’t understand why it got you so worked up. I was worried you were going to worse if that guard hadn’t shown up.”

“To be honest, Lucy, while I know that was out of line, it could have been a lot worse,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. I should’ve trusted you to take care of yourself.”

“Well, yeah you should have,” she agreed. “But, Wyatt, my biggest concern was Amy. The last thing she needed to see was you get into a brawl with that guy and then get hauled off.” She could tell he hadn’t considered that by the look of shame that contorted his face. She didn’t want him to beat himself up over something he struggled so hard to contain, but she just wanted to ensure he would do what he could to prevent it from happening again.

“I’ll be better, Lucy,” he whispered, keeping his eyes glued on the road. “Y’all give me a reason to want to be better.” She had a hard time staying mad at him for long because she now knew what had led to all of this, and somehow despite all of it, he was still one of the kindest, bravest men she’d met, only surpassed by her own father. 

“I trust you, Wyatt,” she reassured him and, in a surge of bravery, reached up and took his hand and to her relief he held it with as much strength as she did. “But I need you to trust me too. If I had known all this before, I could’ve helped calm you down.”

“I do trust you, Lucy,” he insisted. “I just didn’t want to scare you off.”

“Well if today is any proof, that’s not super likely,” she jabbed lightly. In the moments that followed, they both felt the tension drain out of the pickup. They were going to be okay. “But I am still pissed at you,” she reiterated, even though the lightheartedness was back in her voice. 

“For good reason, ma’am,” he chuckled.

Their hands remained intertwined the whole way home. 


	10. Chapter 10

After they arrived home that night, Lucy hoped he would say something, or that she would suddenly develop the guts to say something herself. She shook Amy awake, and Wyatt walked them to the front door. Amy gave Wyatt a grateful hug before heading inside the house, leaving Lucy and Wyatt alone on the porch, both wanting to say everything, yet saying nothing.

“Hey, um,” Lucy began, rocking onto her heels “We have our first track meet on Tuesday. A real small one. Just a few schools from right around here. Would you want to come?” 

A large smile spread across Wyatt’s face as he nodded, “I would love to. It’d be interesting to see you do something else other than teach.” 

She laughed at his playful jab. “I do have many more skills than just teaching, you know.” 

“Like singing?” he asked. He nearly burst out laughing when her eyes nearly doubled in size. 

She stumbled for some kind of words.“Wha- uh... what?”

“Singing,” he laughed, nudging her arm. “I heard you on the way to San Francisco; it was amazing.”

“Oh, um, yeah…” she stuttered. “It’s just… uh…”

“Hey,” he stopped her stammering. “You don’t have to talk about it if it’s something you wanted to keep to yourself. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” 

She shook her head, “Um, no it’s not that. It’s just… I’ve always loved to sing, but it’s caused tension between my mom and I. For some reason she’s worried I’m going to abandon my history career to go be a singer or join a band or something, so it’s just been a tense topic.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze, but he was still struck be her beauty even after a whole day of being out on the beach. Her hair was wind-blown, her cheeks were tinged pink by the sun, make-up was slightly smeared under her golden eyes. He couldn’t grasp how he had been so lucky to steal so much of her time. 

“Do you want to abandon your history career to go be a singer or join a band?” he inquired. 

“Sometimes I feel like I do,” she admitted. “But then I’m drug back to reality. And I love history, I really do.” Of that Wyatt had no doubt. “It would just be too crazy to chase a dream that wouldn’t come true.”

“I recall a time when I told you how everyone thought my Delta Force dream was crazy,” he smirked. “And you told me how you didn’t think it was crazy, but ambitious and brave. You’re both of those things and so much more, Lucy. If that’s what you want…” he paused like he was choosing his next words very carefully. “Then go for it.” When the words slipped from his mouth, neither of them had their thoughts on music or history or Delta Force but just on each other. She felt her heart speed up at the sight of him glancing at her lips.  _ Go for it, _ Lucy thought. She knew she could do it. She felt a surge of courage sweep through her, and as soon as she pressed forward on her toes to reach his lips--

“Lucy!” Amy called from the other side of the door, stopping her movement. “Are you done out there yet?”  _ Oh, is Amy going to get it later,  _ Lucy thought. 

“Yep,” she sighed. She lost all her nerve.  _ There will be time for this later,  _ she told herself. She saw a flash of disappointment cross his face when he recognized the end of their night. 

“Monday?” he huffed. 

“Monday,” she agreed. 


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Monday came around, Lucy worried that the moment had passed for both of them. Neither mentioned the almost moment and went about their lessons as normal. Tuesday morning passed the same. They ate lunch together, walked out to their cars, and Wyatt promised to see her at her track meet that night.  
As he made his way back to his aunt’s house, he mentally kicked himself, as he had every minute since Saturday night, for failing to just have the guts to tell Lucy what he was feeling. Well that would be a long conversation because she made him feel basically everything. The worst of it being hesitation.  
Wyatt had never been one to second guess himself. If he felt the urge to do something, he did it. Obviously it had gotten him into some trouble, but it was a part of who he was. But Lucy… she made him think twice. Not because of himself, but because of her. They each had their futures planned, maybe not every detail, but the road maps were there. And to his everlasting dismay, at first glance the roads didn’t lead to each other. If he achieved his dreams of Delta Force, there was no stability or predictability with that. He would be there for her one day and gone the next, for any amount of time. No, Lucy Preston deserved so much more than he could give her. Damn it, Logan, he cursed himself. You came here thinking California girls wouldn’t be a problem. And he had mostly stuck to that. It was just the one. And she was far from being a problem in his life. She was the solution to so many vices he had refused to confront in himself. She calmed his anger, she made him think through decisions, she motivated him when he became apathetic, she showed him purpose in things he thought were pointless, and she made him want to think beyond himself. Which is ironic because that was the reason he knew a line had been drawn and he couldn’t cross it. For her sake. He slammed the door of his pickup with extra power.  
“Wyatt?” his aunt called as he walked in the door. “Is that you?” He chucked his shoes off by the door and shrugged off his backpack.  
“Yeah, Aunt Kay, it’s me,” he sighed in despondence.  
“We’re having meatloaf for dinner,” she informed his as he entered the kitchen. He slumped onto the rocking chair in the adjacent living room.  
“Um, I’m going to Lucy’s track meet in just a little bit,” he explained. “So I won’t be here for dinner.”  
“Ah,” she said in a knowing tone that didn’t escape Wyatt’s notice.  
“You got somethin’ to say there?” Wyatt quired.  
“Just spending more and more time with that young lady lately,” Kay shrugged as she worked on the meat. “And up until you came in here all huffin’ and puffin’ just now, you’ve been in the best mood that I’ve seen you in… well since a while.” Before Grandpa got sick is what she meant, and he knew it.  
“She’s just helping me graduate,” he lied. “And that puts me in a good mood.”  
“Oh, does anyone buy that bull?” she quipped. “Wyatt, what’s going on?” She washed her hands, placed the meat in the fridge, and sat on the couch beside him. “Did something go wrong with her?” If there was a person in his life that had helped him more than Grandpa Sherwin, it was his Aunt Kay. She and his mother had been pretty far apart in age, leaving Wyatt only 8 years younger than Kay, so she always felt more like an older sister than an aunt. And she could always see right through whatever he was using to hide his true feelings.  
“No, Aunt Kay. The opposite actually,” he confessed. “You’re right. She does make me happy. Too happy. And that’s the problem.”  
“I’m sorry. How is that a problem?” she laughed.  
“It’s a problem because I don’t want to start something with her just to go enlist as soon as I graduate and leave her behind,” he took her through his thought process. “That’s not fair to her.”  
“Why would she have to left behind?” Kay asked.  
“Because she has her own dreams here,” he sighed. “And my dreams take me so far away that it would never work.”  
“Wyatt, have you talked to Lucy about this? Has she told you she wouldn’t be willing to work with your dreams? To make it work?” He should’ve known Kay wouldn’t let this go with his pathetic cop out excuse. She was a fixer and taught him to be the same.  
“No, I haven’t,” he admitted. “I wanted to save her from the pain of having it.”  
“Wyatt, I think it is so you to put Lucy’s emotional safety in front of your feelings,” she encouraged. “But Lucy, from what I’ve learned from you constantly talking about her, is a strong, smart young woman. She knows what she wants. Why would you attempt to keep that from her? If you’ve talked to her about your Delta Force dream, then I would bet she has an idea of what goes along with someone on the other end. I know you’re trying to save her from some hurt, but, frankly, that’s just not for you to decide. Let her decide if it’s worth the risk, Wyatt. You might be surprised.” Her words stirred a tiny bit of shame in Wyatt. Kay was right. Who was he to decide what Lucy could handle or what she wanted? And if she was willing to give this a shot, then he would damn well oblige her. The longer he went without holding her, kissing her, the longer he felt like he was having to physically restrain himself around her, so if she were as open to the possibility of them as he was, then he wouldn’t waste another second. 

* * *

  
It was on the colder side for an October night in Northern California, but not entirely unpleasant. Wyatt sat in the creaky metal stands next to Amy with Carol on the other side, watching the races. Well, Amy and Carol might have been watching the races, but Wyatt had his eyes transfixed on a certain brunette athlete. She was always such a modest dresser; it was something he found appealing about her, but seeing her in her track uniform… He wouldn’t complain about that. She was beauty. Not full of beauty, but the epitome of beauty itself. And when she caught his gaze at that exact moment, for once it was he who blushed and looked away, but when he looked back shyly, she was wearing a wide smile as she continued her stretching.  
“You’re staring,” Amy whispered to Wyatt. “Like… a lot. It’s kinda creepy.” He chuckled nervously at the little Preston’s observation. “It’s okay, though,” she continued. “She does it to you when you’re not looking.” Wow, he should’ve asked Amy for this information sooner.  
“She does, does she?” Wyatt smirked. “What else does she--”  
“Oh, there she is!” Carol interrupted, pointing towards the field. Sure enough Lucy was taking her place on the track with a different kind of expression across her face than Wyatt had ever seen on her before. She looked… fierce was the only word he could think of. He had never seen her radiate confidence like she was now. Her shoulders were rolled back and her eyes were fire. Wyatt would never thought of her as a competitor, but he was reminded how he should never underestimate Lucy Preston.  
When the starting gun sounded, she was off like a shot, taking an early lead, but with the mile run being the equivalent of the 200 meter freestyle which he frequently raced, Wyatt knew she needed to pace herself. It was an awkward place between a sprint and a long distance. But it didn’t take but one lap to see what she was going for. She broke out early to get some distance, then proceeded to set a more average pace the second and third lap, but with another girl just on her heels while the rest of the group was a bit further behind.  
“Come on, Luce!” he yelled as she went into her final lap. “Pick it up!” Her long legs visibly picked up speed, pulling her a little more in the lead, but as they came to the last half length of the track, she lost some momentum. The other girl pulled ahead, finishing just moments before Lucy. There were some cheers from the crowd, and Lucy went over to shake the girl’s hand in congratulations before walking over to where her team was waiting eagerly.  
“She went out too fast on the first lap,” Carol pointed out to Wyatt. “That’s one of her weaknesses. Has been since she first started running.” Wyatt didn’t disagree with Carol’s observation, but he was a little surprised with the instant criticism. But from the interaction he was seeing between Lucy and her coach, he figured Lucy was focusing on the same thing her mother was. Her shoulders slumped a little and she was talking quickly like she does when she’s over-thinking. He picked up his phone and shot her a quick text.

Good race, Luce! Just gotta keep some of that incredible speed for the end.

He figured she wouldn’t see it for a bit, but he knew she could use some encouragement with how she was beating herself up over the loss.  
“It’s alright, though,” Carol added. “The mile isn’t her strongest event.”  
“What is?” Wyatt asked, realizing Lucy had never gone into much detail about her track life.  
“Pole Vault,” Carol stated. “She was second in the state last year. Stanford wants her to compete for them next fall.” Wyatt thought what he heard was an odd combination of pride and disdain in her voice, but then shook his head, figuring he might just be hearing things. What mother wouldn’t be proud of her daughter’s accomplishments?  
He watched Lucy pull on her Palo Alto sweatshirt and take a swig of her water before picking up her phone and viewing his message. She looked his direction with a smile then made her way up to where they were sitting in the stands.  
“Good race, sweetheart,” her mom praised as she sat down beside Wyatt. He was a little relieved she didn’t point out the flaws in her daughter’s race that she had earlier.  
“Thanks, mom,” she sighed, hanging her head a bit. “I did the thing again.”  
“You just need to focus more, Lucy, and remember that the race isn’t won at the beginning.” Lucy nodded and then turned her attention to Wyatt.  
“I heard you cheering up here,” she grinned, nudging him with her shoulder. “Thank you. For that and the message. I can get pretty tough on myself.”  
“I’ve noticed,” he smirked, nudging her back. “You just continue to amaze me with all of your talents.” She blushed at his compliment. “I’ve never been great at running.”  
“I have a hard time believing that,” she argued.  
“It’s true,” he insisted. “My talents only extend to the water. Not so much on land.”  
“Mhmm,” She hummed in skepticism. “Alright, cowboy, we might have to race sometime, so I can see just how much of you is full of bullshit.”  
“Just a warning, I will make you look like a fool because of how bad I actually am,” he predicted. “But you’re on.” He stuck his hand out for her to shake and she took it with just as much enthusiasm.  
Lucy remained with them in the stands for just a bit longer before she had to head back down and warm up for pole vault.  
“Wish me luck?” She asked before leaving his side.  
“I don’t think you need it,” he answered. Lucy had to bite her lip to keep the ridiculously large grin from creeping onto her face as they held each other’s gaze for a second. Then she was running down to the track. Carol excused herself to go get a drink, and once she was out of earshot, Amy leaned over and said: “I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told Lucy. Ask her out because this is getting ridiculous.” How did an 11-year-old make him feel so flustered when pointing out his feelings?  
“Is that so?” Wyatt inquired.  
“Uh, yeah,” she stated. “I’ve seen Lucy go through a few boyfriends, but she’s never been like she is around you when she was around them.” Wyatt didn’t know whether or not to take the words as gospel, but they certainly did stir excitement in his stomach. Man, he wanted Lucy. And he wasn’t sure how much longer he could go without saying anything.  
By the time Carol returned with a Diet Coke and a Snickers for herself and a Powerade for Amy, it was almost Lucy’s first run at the pole vault. She cleared the 7’ bar easily on the first attempt. Wyatt raised his eyebrows in surprise with how much grace and power she put on display. As much as he believed that Lucy could do really anything, he had a hard time accepting that the Lucy he was seeing now, flinging herself through the air with ease was the same Lucy he had seen fall over while standing still. She had all these klutzy tendencies, but clearly though tendencies did not follow her onto the track.  
“Last year at state,” Carol told Wyatt. “She nearly doubled that. Her highest was 13’2 ½”” Just watching her clear bar after bar, he could see why she excelled. She was long and lean. And surprisingly strong it would seem. He, being a man with two functioning eyes, couldn’t stop himself from admiring how well the track uniform allowed him to see the movements of every lean muscle. Having already been attracted to her since day one, what he was learning today just kept pushing him closer to revealing his feelings to her the next second she was within his reach.  
Her run came to an end when she knocked the 13” bar away for the third time, but when she landed on the mat, he noticed that she didn’t look overly disappointed. She had won the event by 3 inches. For Lucy, that was a good way to start her senior season.  
Carol and Amy began gathering their belongings as Lucy ran to to them, wrapping her mom in a hug.  
“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart,” Carol affirmed her daughter.  
“Thanks, mom,” she smiled.  
“We’re gonna go ahead and head home,” her mother said. “This one has homework to do.” Amy did not look pleased with that realization. “We’ll see you at home?”  
“Of course,” Lucy answered. “Shouldn’t be too late.” Carol gave her daughter one last hug before she and Amy left the track.  
“You have fun?” She asked, resuming her spot beside him.  
“It was amazing,” he assured her. “You’re amazing, Lucy. And you surprise me in just how many ways.” She looked into her lap to try and hide the dorky smile he caused. “You okay?”  
“Mhmm,” she answered. “I am hungry though. Wanna split some of these horrible stadium nachos? I’ll treat.”  
“Yes to the horrible nachos, but no to the treating.” He replied. “Victors make others get their nachos for them, so I will fall on that sword.” Before she had time to protest, he was already standing up and heading for the concession stand.  
“Damn Cowboy,” she smiled to herself.

 

* * *

 

They remained in the stands for the rest of the meet, chowing down on their concession nachos and cheering on Lucy’s teammates.  
“So if your mom is worried you’re going to drop out of school to join a band then how does she feel about you being an athlete?” Wyatt asked after all the chips were gone.  
“Eh the way she sees it is that even if I wanted to make a career out of this, I’d have to go to college to compete to even have a shot. Plus Stanford loves students that excel in other area other than academics,” she explained. “And it’s not that she’s not supportive, she really is, her focus is just more on what will make me successful rather than what would make me happy.” Wyatt realized how lucky he had been that despite all the negativity he had received from dreaming of Delta Force that the people closest to him, Sherwin and Kay, really just wanted him to pursue his dreams, and he promised to do the same for Lucy.  
The meet eventually came to a close, and with it being a school night, people quickly cleared out of the track, but when he started to collect their trash, Lucy stopped his hands, telling him to hold on.  
“What is it?” He asked. As the last few people left the track and the stadium lights began to dim, Lucy grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the track. “What are we doing?”  
“You agreed on a race!” she laughed. “And we have a perfectly good, empty track right here, so what time would be better?” She gestured to the track around her and gave a little spin to emphasize her point, but nearly tripping on her own feet.  
“I’m just shocked that someone as naturally clumsy as you just dominates on the field,” Wyat chuckled, helping her regain her balance.  
“Different state of mind, Logan,” she said as if it was so obvious. “When I’m not competing my mind is focused on things other than not falling, but when I’m competing it’s all I have to think about.” He was defeated by her point. It was such a Lucy way of seeing things. “But don’t think you can talk your way out of this. 100 meter dash now.” There was something about Lucy in this moment that was something indescribable Wyatt thought as they took their starting stance. She was still her awkward self, but she was doing it with such confidence. Never had he imagined those two attributes would fit so well together in one person or that it would be so… sexy.  
“Go!” It took Wyatt a split second to realize she was already running and he should probably be too, so he took off after her.  
It was an easy victory for the brunette, but Wyatt had other things on his mind than racing. As soon as he came up to where she was catching her breath, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and begun spinning them around. Her gorgeous laugh struck his heart and her arms overlapped his.  
“Wyatt!” She called through fits of laughter. “Put me down!” He ceased his spinning, but didn’t relinquish his hold on her middle. “Are you gonna let me go?” She exhaled with breath rugged from laughing and running.  
“No, ma’am,” he whispered into her ear. “I don’t think I want to.” He felt the change in her body language through his and worry snuck up that he might have been wrong.  
“Wyatt,” she whispered, turning and grabbing onto his arms as he tried to retreat. “Me?” It would’ve been such a vague question to anyone else, but even in there short time together, no one knew Lucy Preston quite like he did. She was asking for verification of his feelings for her. Like she was unsure that he would want her. As if she weren’t the reason he got out of bed every morning, as if she weren’t the best thing to happen to him in… well, ever, as if she weren’t the most amazing and confusing and beautiful woman he had ever met. Hell yes, her.  
“Yes, ma’am,” he breathed, wiping a stray hair from her face. “You.” He didn’t kiss her nor did she kiss him. They met exactly in the middle like the both knew they couldn’t wait another second.  
Lucy had been kissed before, but never like this. Every other kiss was about taking and trying to move forward to other things. But even with one kiss, Lucy felt as if he’d be content doing nothing but kissing her all night. He kissed her like it was about her. Like he wanted her to feel the depth of his affection through the connection between their lips.  
And when he nipped her bottom lip with his teeth, she opened up to him. She had never really wanted to do that before. Their tongues slid together, and Lucy felt desire spark red hot inside of her. She pulled him as close as she could manage and she felt the intensity rise in him as she did. It was like they had been doing this for years. It wasn’t awkward and clunky. It was natural the way they moved together. Like they anticipated the others wave of desire and met it with just as much ferocity. But it was when he slowed it down that her knees completely buckled beneath her. Luckily he still had one arm firmly locked around her back while the other was holding the back of her head like he had no intention of letting her back away until he was done as if she were going to pull away. She wasn’t.  
It was like they were reintroducing themselves, but this time in a physical way. She wanted to learn everything about him. What made him moan. What made him shiver. He would tighten his grip on her when she pulled on his hair and shiver when she drug her nails along the nape if his neck. But while she was discovering all these things, it seemed as if Wyatt had her memorized already because there wasn’t a thing he did that failed to draw some reaction from her. He had shaken her to her core. So much so that when he finally pulled back, she would have slumped to a heap on the ground if he hadn’t been holding her up. They just remained there with their foreheads touching, standing in the moonlight and basking in the heat between them.  
“Felt like you’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” she teased, running her hands through his hair.  
“You have no idea,” he admitted breathlessly. “Since day one.”  
“Well let’s count this as day one of something new,” she beamed up at him.  
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, planting another hard kiss onto her beautiful swollen lips. “Day One.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hopefully I’ll have the next chapter up before Salem! I love hearing your comments :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m baaaaaaaaaack! I’m so sorry for the instance hiatus that this story took after Hollywoodland. Season 2 was just packed with too much ff fuel for me to ignore it, but I’ve gained some new inspiration for how I want to frame this story, and this is the beginning of that! Thank you for the people who’ve voiced support for this story since the beginning and through all the waiting! All my love, clockblockers!

 

_ 2016, Mason Industries _

Before either has a chance to speak, the door behind her is flung open, and a pantsuit-sporting, middle-aged woman strolls in, calling on her by name.

“Lucy Preston,” she greets, holding out a hand which Lucy stands to shake. “Agent Denise Christopher, Homeland Security.”  _ More Homeland Security? Oh, and, of course, Wyatt. Wyatt Logan is sitting  _ right _ there. What the hell is this?  _ “History, anthropology. You’re world class.” She would’ve scoffed if the situation allowed it.  _ Yeah, a world class professor who couldn’t even make tenure. _

__ “I’m just a teacher,” she quickly insists, knowing all too well that she’s not the one that deserves this praise. “My mother is world class.” 

“I’ve read all of her books,” the agent tells her, a high level of respect in her voice. “I’m sorry to hear she’s sick.” She takes her seat once again when the woman’s focus turns to Wyatt. 

“Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan, Delta Force.” And just like that she’s standing again, eyes wide on the man who she feels freshly introduced to. 

_ Delta Force.  _ A deeply buried part of her heart bursts with pride.  _ He did it. _

__ “Yes, ma’am,” he responds with a trace of hesitation. She knows he’s never been one for such extravagant titles.

“Speaking of reputations,” she esteems, but Lucy doesn’t miss the flash of skepticism that briefly disturbs his face. “Well we are on the clock, so follow me, but hold on to your asses.” Wyatt brushes past her and follows the agent out the door, leaving Lucy only a split second to process the axis her world has been turned on before it becomes clear she should follow. 

“Oh… uh o-okay.”

  
  


 

__ So much is buzzing around her that she can’t fully comprehend what to focus on. She’s fascinated by all that seems to be happening on the ground floor below her. Technology has never been her forte, Amy usually having to show her how to do most things on her laptop beyond a simple spreadsheet, but what she sees from this balcony room is so intriguing, spurring her insatiable curiosity. But then there’s all this information the agent, Agent Christopher, is throwing at them that should probably hold her attention.

“Garcia Flynn, Ex-NSA operative in Eastern Europe.”  _ Okay, so now the NSA is involved? _

“Ex since when?”

“Since he killed his wife and child and went off the grid.” That little piece of information strikes at Lucy.  _ His wife and child?  _ A clip of security footage rolls on the TV to her right. The man, Flynn, eyeing the camera before crawling into what Lucy could only guess is some sci-fi movie prop, but before she can make a comment about  _ why  _ exactly they’re watching this, the machine is gone, vanished, seeming to bend the air around it before doing so.

“Wh-What the hell was that?” 

“Some sort of special effect?”

“Ever heard of a closed timelike curve?” And just like that Connor Mason walks right into the room, and part of her just wants to walk right out, not knowing how else to handle everything being thrown at her. Homeland Security, Delta Force, Wyatt, NSA, terrorists, Wyatt, weird sci-fi machines that might actually be real, Connor Mason, closed timelike curves,  _ Wyatt fucking Logan.  _ She’s a  _ teacher.  _ A clumsy, nerdy, book-smart, teacher. She’s the piece that doesn’t fit here, and she’s ready to find out why. 

“I—excuse me—a closed timelike what?”

“Right. Say, this,” he holds out a piece of printer paper. “Is the fabric of spacetime. Now, if you get a powerful enough gravitational field, you could actually bend it back on itself, creating a kind of loop that would allow you to cross over to an earlier point.” 

“An earlier point… In time, you mean?” She asks incredulously.  _ It’s not possible, is it? _

__ “What he means is, Mr. Mason invented a time machine,” Agent Christopher lays it out for them. “And chose not to tell the government about it until it was stolen by terrorists.” Their short-lived bickering is drown out by the blaring alarms in her mind, telling her these people are insane, this isn’t real, this is some absurd dream, and it seems Wyatt is of the same mind. 

“Uh, wait. Hold on,” he interrupts. “This is a joke, right? I mean, some psych test the government came up with?”

“I mean this-this can’t be  _ possible,  _ right?” 

“Well, that’s what they said about the moon shot,” Mason points out, and finally she feels a tug of connection because she understands that. She knows what an impossibility it seemed to the millions of skeptics then, and she knows that names of the men  _ and  _ women who made it happen despite all odds. 

“Well, if you’ll follow me,” Christopher calls them back. “We’ll show you the real reason we brought you here.”

 

 

Okay, yes, there’s another time machine in front of them. Or at least that’s what they claim it is. A decade’s old, rusted carnival ride is more of what it looks like to her. But they couldn’t possibly expect her to go in there? No, that would just be over the top insane. 

“—but, unfortunately, she can’t tell us exactly where the Mothership has gone, but she can tell us  _ when.” _

“Naturally, only tells you when,” Wyatt says smugly. He always did take things much more easily in stride than she did. “Time machine problems.”

Her focus shifts from the “Lifeboat” to the computer in front of Mason where she reads a date that rings bells of familiarity in her mind.

“3:30 PM. May 6, 1937,” she voices, hoping saying it aloud would shake loose the memory. 

_ May 30th. ‘37, ‘37, ‘37. Pre-World War II. US still in depression. She said the guy who stole the first machine was Eastern European. Maybe it has something to do with the invasion of Austria. No, but that’s not until March of ‘38. C’mon, Lucy.  _ She’d almost believe her mother is there, speaking over her shoulder, if she weren’t in a coma back home _. Think. _

__ “We found this on the dead shooter. It’s an address, a tavern in Manchester, New Jersey.”

Then it clicks.

“That’s the Hindenburg,” she spills out, wanting to smack herself for not thinking of it right off the bat. “About four hours before it crashed. You’re telling me that this guy actually went back in time,  _ for real, to  _ the Hindenburg?”

“Lucy,” Mason calls to her. “If Flynn kills people in ‘37 who aren’t supposed to die, they don’t have the kids they’re supposed to have, do the things they’re supposed to do. History changes. Reality changes.”

Well, shit.

“So why would you be stupid enough to invent something so dangerous?” She knows it might be a little out of her jurisdiction to call the billionaire tech mogul stupid, but there really isn’t a more appropriate word for it.

“I didn’t count on this happening,” he shoots back defensively, but the way he turns away speaks of a shame she can’t quite place.

“Why would Flynn do it?” That’s the real question, isn’t it? She can guarantee he’s not just taking some joyride to see the aviation catastrophe. They’re going in truly blind if they can’t figure out exactly what it is he’s trying to accomplish.

“We don’t know,” Christopher admits. “But there’s room in there for three passengers.” 

Oh, hell no.

“Wait. To do what?” She asks. “Go  _ after  _ him?”

“Why else would we bring you here?” 

There isn’t a second of hesitation. After the words leave the agent’s mouth, she’s making a beeline for the door.

“Dr. Preston!” She hears Christopher call after her, but she won’t stop. She can’t stop. Because, yes, it sounds absolutely terrifying and dangerous and unpredictable and everything she actively works to avoid in her everyday life, but it also sounds thrilling and life-changing and the secret fantasy of every historian to live the history they devote their lives to. 

If she hesitates, she’ll go back. She’ll jump into that time machine and dive head first into the experience of a lifetime, but that’s not what Lucy Preston does. She doesn’t take risk, she doesn’t test waters, and she does notleave her mother and sister to go galavanting through history with her soldier ex-boyfriend who she hoped she would never have to see again. 

The one that she’s fairly certain is rushing after her as she slams through the steel door. 

“They’re insane, Wyatt!” She barks, refusing to look back. “And even if I believed them, which I  _ don’t,  _ I’m not getting in that thing to what? Go after some terrorist? I am  _ not  _ a soldier.” 

“They already have me, Lucy; they don’t need another soldier. But I’m pretty damn sure that they— _ I— _ need a historian, a guide. Someone who can help me move around without drawing attention.” By the time he catches up to her, she has the car door open, ready to say goodbye to this absurd nightmare.

“There are plenty of other people more qualified than me to help you out,” she combats, looking for any way out. “Hundreds, thousands even, and I can probably find them for you if that would make it easier.”

“I’m not the person to say who’s qualified or not, but one thing I know is that no one loves history more than you, Lucy. I’ve seen it. ” 

She hesitates. 

_ Damn him.  _

_ “ _ And yet you’re telling me you’re just going to run away?”  _ Again _ . It’s unspoken but they both know it’s there. “You’re going to let this psycho tear it all apart?” It’s a cheap guilt trip, but he has to know it’ll work. “And besides what if they are telling the truth? Why not take a risk for once? I know you, Lucy, you’re itching out of your skin to see it for yourself.” 

There’s something different about him. Something she can’t say she’s particularly fond of. This isn’t the battered, bruised boy from West Texas that she loved. There’s a new kind of smugness about him, an arrogance she doesn’t recognize. 

This must be him. The esteemed soldier Agent Christopher introduced.

Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan, Delta Force. 

She learned a long time ago that time changes people, but she just always hoped it would be for better. This, right here, taught her something new.

Time’s a real bitch. 

She slams the door shut and marches up to him until their a hair's breadth apart.

“You don’t  _ know  _ me, Wyatt,” she seethes. “You haven’t known me for years if you ever did at all. I’m going back in there. I’m going to get in that damned machine, but it’s not because of you, and it’s certainly not  _ for  _ you. Got it?” A darkness passes through his eyes as he steps back, and she does her best to pretend it isn’t a look of hurt. 

They’ve hurt each other enough for more than one lifetime. 

“Got it,” he concedes. She brushes past him, thinking that’ll be the end of it. “Ma’am.”

Nope. 

It’s just the beginning.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop me a comment and let me know what you think ;)


End file.
